Artists with OCs! How close do your dolls end up to the characters you've drawn/written?

I've been thinking about this too lately, and I've also moved in the direction of treating the doll version more like its own thing, simply to avoid the frustration of trying to perfectly match what's in my head. It's funny because my dolls were not characters beforehand- I made the characters for the dolls. But as the years went by, the concept of them in my mind evolved and sometimes they no longer matched the doll. I was also severely limiting myself with what I could do with the dolls. There would be clothes or shoes or wigs that I thought would be cute on them, but I didn't buy because they didn't "suit the character" perfectly. And honestly that's just... not any fun. Dolls should be fun! Nowadays, while I do try to keep my dolls looking "in character", I'm a lot more free with what I put on them. There's just so much more joy in the hobby when you're not limiting yourself to only what's perfect.

I am challenged by one of my newest dolls, though, because he actually is based on a pre-existing character. He's my Final Fantasy XIV character. His hair and eyes are a particular shade of pink that I'm having no luck at all finding in doll form. I do have a pair of pink eyes and a pink wig right now, but the color is too cool and not the coral pink they're supposed to be. I'm trying to decide now how much it really matters. I can buy fibers in the perfect color to make a wig, but I HATE making wigs. I could live with what I have and use photoshop to correct the colors when I take photos, but would I be happy looking at him in real life? I'm leaning towards accepting this incorrect pink, because even though it's not perfect, the doll DOES still capture his essence and I think that's the most important thing.

 

SOme of my OCs only developed after I got the doll in question, so it was never a real issue for me, but for Derenly - my boy Lishe - the character (an RP character I play on the Argent Dawn Warcraft server) the OC definitely came first. Finding the perfect sculpt would be pretty hard, unless I went the route of finding someone to 3D sculpt and print a head for me to match to the right style of body. For now though, he lives as my modded Lishe boy, and I view him as being a slightly stylised form of the character. Not a perfect match - but I can live with that. The doll's personality comes through exactly like Derenly - which I think is the real main challenge.

I'm also working on turning my Dollshe V2 Hound into another of my characters - though in Marius' case, the resin colour is all wrong. Marius is supposed to have tan skin, and my Hound is... decidedly not. But finding the right 70cm slender tan boy will take me some time - and like Derenly, right now the Hound version feels right, even if the resin colour is wrong, because the Warcraft RP OC was based on the resin version - who in turn was based on an OC I've had in various forms since the 90s.

 

I've had the hardest time with shelling human characters- but oddly enough I got super lucky with my oldest OC that I made when I was 13. He's a humanoid rabbit soldier trained from since he was a child. This sculpt from Dollzone matched well with his preteen version, and I found a body sculpt that was muscular for a 45 cm doll but still proportional for someone younger.

I really love him, but I did have to put him away in my dresser for safety reasons. I recently got a puppy and resin is super toxic if consumed.

 

I usually develop my OCs before getting the doll so when they get home is when reality falls over me and adjustments need to be made. The things that I've had to change over the years range from simply hair color or clothing style to a full character reimagining
It's been easier with anthro dolls for me too, as they've suffered minor to no changes.

 

More a writer than an artist, but oh man, the characters of my dolls and of my writing are totally separate! Different worlds, too.

Most of my writing centers around characters who are nonhuman, and could only be called humanoid in having a similar body plan/proportions. I only see the rare cyborg here and there, let alone the many weird-shaped robots I have! So the dolls are their own little world where I don't have to worry about The Rules(tm) of my other worlds.

 

I tried it briefly at the start of the hobby, but I just gave up entirely when it became clear that my characters would never translate to dolls unless I actually sculpted them from the ground up. I have a very cartoony style with very deliberate stylization, and I think too much would be lost if I tried to translate it into the standard "BJD style". Elements that worked as an illustration (hair that defies gravity or realistic hair patterns, wacky clothing designs, emotive/floating glasses, etc) would look just confusing and ugly on a semi-realistic doll. The closest I could get would be an anime style doll, but they have their own limitations.

Not to mention some of my favorite OCs are fat men, which is something the BJD industry refuses to touch with a 10 foot pole.

I just decided that it would be more trouble than it was worth. So I made characters to match my dolls instead, which resulted in a much more easygoing collecting experience. It definitely feels different, more like a dress-up game or video game character customization than truly designing a character from the ground up. But it's still fun!

 

I have three groups here:
- characters that I made once I started collecting dolls, with the purpose of shelling them into dolls (majority of them)
- dolls I got because I REALLY liked them, and then made up a character for (a couple few)
- characters that existed long on their own, and one day decided I wanted as dolls too (minority)

For the first one, I came up with a story for my doll crew and from then on tried to make it come true. So I would buy dolls specifically because they fit character X, not necessarily because I really really liked the doll. Some of these dolls I would have not bought without that character. Despite that though, I still have dolls in that group that do not look as close to my mental image as I wish them to be.
Kazuhira for example does not look Japanese (or "Asian"), which is mostly because...there really aren't that many options. When I got him the only possible doll that maybe could have worked was Iplehouse Bichun, and while I like Bichun he didn't fit the character overall and the EID body was too short as well. Many years later and Sartoria released Jun...and he still is only just "okay", not a great match. While there are more Asian faces around now, they are still very limited and they are either female OR at most some Kpop idol lookalike. Only older Asian male sculpts I'm aware of belong to smaller Russian artist dolls.
So for years he has been a Granado Andrew, and I just kinda accepted that.

For the rest in that group, they either fit or have the right vibe that is close enough. I do reshell if need be, but some have been very stubborn or are kinda stuck in their form (usually due to lots of custom clothes tailored for an uncommon body, or because there is no better doll out there yet).

The second group is easier, because the doll came first. Their character is tailored to their face. I only struggle with one of them because I started to not like one of the sculpts anymore. It's still a good enough fit, but I wish I could find something that is very close to the current aesthetic but without the bits that bother me.

The last group is something I actually just got. I had OCs before I started with BJDs in 2008, but I never had any desire to own one of them as a doll and they had all been retired at that point too. All OCs afterwards were doll related, mostly belonging to the same big crew.
However, back in 2017 I took a hobby break and during that time ended up with another OC. I didn't want him as a doll for years, but gave in after some time. I have him and his husband here now, and I have exactly the issue with them you describe.
There is a lot of written/drawn material to reference from, but that made it very hard to find fitting dolls. Both of them are not perfect. One for example should have a slightly down-turned nose, but those are rare and I was limited by their size.
Their bodies are both just close, but not perfect either.
However, to me they are like fanart, or like the many art pieces I commissioned of them. Each artist had their own little interpretation, and as long as the majority of important details are there, they are still very recognizable as who they are supposed to be.

So in short: I try to get as close as I can, but accept that there are limits to how close I can get sometimes
Not only in regards to faces, but especially their bodies too. My dolls are mostly dressed, so if the height and overall silhouette fits I am already happy enough
Options are just too limited for anything that isn't hourglass female or sixpack male.

 

Even when I draw my characters, they never look 100% like they do in my head. And so it’s no surprise that a doll representation of them would be any different.

I’ve written four books. And my favorite characters are from a book series that I’m two books deep into writing. Normally, I have zero interest in shelling any of my characters as dolls. Any dolls I buy, I’ve bought purely based on aesthetics alone. There are no characters/personalities/stories attached to any of my dolls. They are just dolls.

However, Dream Valley Rah got me (shakes fist). He looked exactly like one of the main characters from my series. Even the slender body-type is fitting. I already accepted that the doll version wouldn’t end up as an accurate carbon copy of the real character, but I think he’s close! Even with his clothes, face-uo, and accessories, there’s still something… off about him.

It’s the wig.

When I ordered him, I ordered his wig too and it looked alright in pictures. But in person, instead of a wavy Hairstyle, it’s a frickin’ bowl cut.

He now sits on my desk with his ridiculous bowl cut and motivates me to write his story while we both wait for his new wig to arrive.

Spoiler: Doll versus Character pics

Spoiler: UPDATE: Got a new wig for him and some new eyes, and now he's pretty spot-on! :D

 

I have a set of characters that come from a very established, written and drawn world. While my characters are never EXACTLY as I picture them (because sculpts are hard to match lol) the styling I try my best to get as close as I possibly can. Two of my dolls is almost an exact copy of the art I have done of them while some of the others are very close but still a work-in-progress. I just try to think less about exact facial features and, instead, focus in on the attitude they're supposed to present. That makes it a lot less overwhelming and frustrating to try and match to.

Spoiler: OC Art vs Doll Comparison

 

I'd have to agree with everyone here about not trying to be a 100% match to preexisting OCs. I lucked out and found a sculpt that matched my character's body and head very closely. I lucked out even more by finding a sewing pattern for his canon outfit. So mine is pretty damn close to looking perfect, but I still have things to get done before I can say I'm 100% satisfied with him.

I have another doll who I saw for sale and instantly a character was born in my head, and who will be a new D&D character once I nail down the way she dresses/come up with a faceup concept so I can send her off to get it painted. It's SO much easier to approach OC/Doll matching this way, let me tell you!

 

All of my dolls represent OC's (from the books I'm writing). I've had good luck picking sculpts that embody my characters, and since I'm an artist as well as a writer, I'm able to paint the dolls, make their wigs, etc., and therefore create a pretty close matchup. That said, I don't sew (yet), so clothing is a little harder to select, but the stuff I have for them at the moment seems to nicely suit their characters, although shoes for a couple of the girls are a bit harder to obtain.

 

Same here on multiple counts. Most of my OCs are some combination of fat, big nosed, and with facial/body hair so that tends to rule dolls out unfortunately. (And for the characters that conceivably could be shelled, my drawing style doesn't translate to Sims 4 very well, so I can't get my hopes up for dolls, sigh.)

So I also ended up making characters from dolls! It's been really fun but like you said, different - it's actually kind of interesting to have a "premade" design and come up with a personality/etc around it. Definitely different to my normal style. But I really enjoy the characters I came up with for my catgirl dolls, and even if something were to happen to the dolls I would keep them around as OCs.

 

Meshing my dolls and my OCs has been decidedly difficult for me, haha. I'm happy with the sculpts, but the outfits turned out to be tough. My first doll has a "canon outfit" I'm happy with, but my second doll doesn't really look like how I imagined her. The OCs my dolls are based on are from a historical setting, but appropriate clothes are either hard to find or not to my liking. Plus I found out I prefer dressing my dolls in modern clothing.
So I'm currently reworking their stories a bit to be some kind of "modern day AU". Hasn't been easy, but it's coming along. My upcoming doll is going to be a new character due to that, though.

 

all of my dolls are characters of my story. i do not buy anything, even if i like the doll. since i do have a story and draw just a little bit, i have a very detailed vision of how they all should like. it was a real challenge but i can say that all of them look exactly as i want. My main OC finally received a body with the type he should have from the beginning. It wasn't an easy task, i've been in this hobby for 9 years already and before that i spent years searching for the perfect shell for my main character. I do love stylization, which made the searching even more difficult, but now satisfied with results.

Spoiler: My OCs as dolls

The first 'realistic' picture is Artbreeder + heavy photobash by me, gray sketch it's my attempt, colorful picture is a commission


Picture of the girl is a real photo + photobash. the only difference is a color of her hair, i changed it recently to the bright red. Boy with the read hair has two pair of eyes, demon and human version, same as on my art of him. The trickiest part was to find my cyborg. Only recently company started to make dolls in cyberpunk style, but back then it was very hard to get the right one. So i gathered him from 4 different companies

 

I have an OC who I had a mental picture in my head for years of what he looked like. Then Souldoll released their Chiron centaur years ago and as soon as I saw him I was like “It’s him! THAT is my Shadow King!” Never mind that he was an entirely different skin tone to what I’d always written/envisioned. They did have a white skin version but only the gray skin version seemed to fit. That sculpt inspired me to rewrite my character to match what Chiron looked like, even though I didn’t actually get the doll itself until just recently.

 

Besides my first three dolls, all the dolls I'm waiting on, the ones I plan on getting, and the one that recently arrived are established characters. I've done my best to find dolls that look like them. Some dolls just looked like the characters. Like, Charm Doll Lucas, MYOU Chasel, and Maskcat Doll Claire. For other characters, I'd look through what was available and see what matched best. Some things I can't get perfect. Like, I know I'm not going to find Andrian's haircut for a 1/4 scale BJD, and then I couldn't find one perfect for Charlotte, but I'm just going to change her bangs in the story and my future art to match. Then one of the ones I'm waiting on doesn't look 100% like the one TV show character I want to shell, but I really like the doll and he reminds me of the character. Some of the dolls I have to make adjustments to. Like the one I'm ordering for Andrian will need more freckles added, two I'm waiting on need beauty marks/moles added, and then down the road, I need to make "elf" ears for two of the dolls. Another doll I'm going to order next year, I'll order blank and paint myself. dream Valley Freyja is perfect for my FFXIV character especially since you can get her in grey, but the face-up is not. Then since I like 1/4 scale BJDs, they are all looking a bit younger and have rounder faces, but I'm fine with that because the main features match the character. There are some characters that I know will be really hard to find dolls for, so with my OCs, I'm sticking with the main trio.

Clothes, I'm not picky with. Charlotte just came a few days ago, and I got her a dress for her. In the stories, Charlotte always wears pants, but this dress really felt like her character, from the orange, to the flower details, and to the little rabbit. Eventually, I'd like to make outfits for the two TV show characters I'm shelling, but they won't wear them all the time. I plan on dressing them up with stuff that just fits the characters. Maybe it would be fun to make their outfits I've drawn them in down the road, but I'm fine for now. Even with my three that weren't already established OCs or TV characters, I see picking out clothes and buying clothes as what they would want to wear given the options available. What colors do they like? What styles do they gravitate towards? Do they wear comfy clothes only? I see it as a way to learn even more about the characters even if I already have pages written about them and have had them as an OC for years now.

 

May I ask what you play? I plan on shelling my FFXIV character next year, and it's going to be a fun one, so I get it. I didn't think I'd be able to at all since I play a duskwight, but I lucked out and saw that Dream Valley offers grey resin and have some dolls with long ears. Though, I'm going to be having to do my first face-up (unless I don't spend so much and can get another blank doll beforehand ).

 

My character is a Viera boy! So not too much of a challenge, doll-wise! He's tan/brown, which was easy to get, and his hairstyle will easily hide the doll's human ears. Probably my biggest challenge (aside from the pink color heh) will be the bunny ears, but that's not too hard to figure out. Before I even started putting him together I had to 100% accept that he will never be able to dress like the game version of him because... I am NOT commissioning people to make those complicated Final Fantasy outfits